Finding my ‘True North’ with the polar bears of Churchill, Manitoba

A polar bear on the icy tundra of Churchill, Manitoba. Sue Frause photo.

I’ve been way up north in Churchill, Manitoba for the past week — the Polar Bear Capital of the World. Often when I’m on the road, I’ll continue to write about Whidbey Island here in my Seattle P-I blog. But this trip was total immersion into the True North, where I’m wrapping up my week as a guest of Travel Manitoba and Frontiers North Adventures.

As a self-proclaimed Closet Canuck, this has been one of my most memorable Canadian experiences. For five days, I was with a group of nine travelers from Australia, England, Germany, Scotland and the US. We spent three days on the tundra with our Canadian guide Hayley (via New Zealand) and our Tundra Buggy driver Mark (Yukon), where we saw dozens of polar bears — and I took close to 1,000 photos. The other two days we immersed ourselves into the culture of Churchill, a town that for six weeks shares the polar bears with the rest of the world, as the beautiful four-legged creatures wait for the ice to form on Hudson Bay so they can feast on seals and other sought after menu items.

I’ve spent the past two days in Winnipeg, a city I’ve visited twice before, and grown quite fond of. Not only is it the home of Winnie the Pooh (Winnie is short for Winnipeg), the Royal Winnipeg Ballet hails from here as do the newly returned Winnipeg Jets. Ballet and hockey, that’s the balance here. It’s a bit bleak in Winterpeg now (“You should be here in February!” said a local), but its art, culture and sports are enough to keep Winnipeggers content through the long, dark winters. This afternoon, I’ll be attending a matinee performance of The Music of Stephen Sondheim Starring Len Cariou with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The weather is cloudy with showers and a high of 10C (50F), with snow flurries forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

I’m flying back to Seattle via Vancouver, BC early Monday morning. As always, there’s no place like home, but O Canada continues to hold a special place in my heart — along with my new pals, the polar bears.

Two polar bears meet and eventually spar for nearly an hour. Sue Frause photo.